


Pseudo Siblings

by orphan_account



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Adventure, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mute Edward Elric, Mystery, Orphanage, Trans Character, all teen au, maybe a little romance centric, not a romance centric fic, there might be a little fluff, triplet Ed Al And Nina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-04-19 21:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14246598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The bland building on the outskirts of Jacksonville is called Robins Nest Group Home. The building is hard to remember but the sixteen kids who live there are... eccentric to say the least. They talk to themselves, they don't eat lunch and sit under the tree farthest from the school building whenever they get the chance, they talk about the mysterious Caregiver. Generally, everyone thinks they are strange, they think the others are the only ones who can understand. But things are about to get far more extraordinary for the sixteen kids who live in Robins Nest.





	1. Robins Nest

            Edward Elric was used to being pushed around. Really, he was, he tried not to let other kids that went to his school get to him. What they said didn’t matter, it didn’t. Words didn’t bother him much, the stones they started throwing at him did. He doesn’t remember when they started, all he knows is he started carrying around his largest book outside of his backpack to block the projectiles from hitting his head.

            It was the second Friday of the month of March when one of the kids got a lucky hit. He fell to the ground after the rock hit his temple hard. Ed laid on the ground and wondered if he was going to get murdered by the rest of his class. Gentle hands rested on his shoulder and side.

            “Edward? Edward are you alright?” Asked a soft voice above him. He heard the other kids yelling and screaming and a fierce voice above it all screeching at the top of her lungs. Ed opened his eyes and looked up at Winry. The girl holding his shoulder. Ed tried to move his head to look to see the other girl, Maria Ross, who was still terrorizing their classmates. “Don’t move darling your bleeding.” Winry made a tsk sound and set her backpack next to his head. She removed gauze and disinfectant.

            “Why do head wounds have to bleed so much.” It wasn’t really a question coming from Maria. She sat across from Winry next to Ed. “And why do you let them hit you with rocks?” Now that was a question. Ed wasn’t really sure why he let it happen. It wasn’t like he could tell the teachers and he couldn’t have his friends and pseudo-siblings follow him around all day. He shrugged the best he could while on the ground. Ed hissed when the disinfectant touched the cut on his head. It stung like a sand in the summer in Florida. He knew all about how hot the sand there was, he and the others went to the Jacksonville beach quite often when it was the summer seasons. On special occasions, they went to Hana park and stayed there for two weeks or until they were found. Once they made a game of it, seeing who got kicked out of the park last. Mei had won, simply because she was the smallest.

            Winry finished bandaging his head and helped him stand up. Maria handed him the book he had been holding. He had dropped it to the side when he had been hit by the rock.

            “What were you reading about?” Maria asked. Ed smiled at her.

            _It’s a Sci-Fi._ Ed signed back to her. The three of them picked up their things and walked the rest of the way to their homes.

           

            The building was made of brick and metal fixtures. The railings on the stairs where rusted and falling off. The door had the names of everyone who lived there carved in it along with flowers and cats painted to give the place some cheer. They were faded just enough to let you know that the kids hadn’t painted in quite a while. There were no signs saying what the building was nor where there any other remarkable features about the building that sat in the outskirts of downtown Jacksonville. The building was otherwise inconspicuous and inconsequential. The bus dropped Ed off at Lavilla, an art school close to the building, not close enough that the walk still wasn’t a bit ware and tear on his prosthetic leg. That wouldn’t stop him though, no there was nothing that was going to stop him from getting to his bed now. He was tired.

            Maria bounced up the stairs on the building and smiled back down at them. Spinning and bowing and generally just putting on a show of being cheerful.

            “Parents are for nerds.” She said after bowing one last time. Winry gave a shocked giggle and Ed smiled at her.  Maria yanked open the door to Robins Nest Group Home.

            Inside was chaos as usual. Olivier Armstong was stand in the middle of the dining room table, raising her arms in the air and yelling about something. Denny Brosh was watching her from the opposite side of the table trying to do his homework. Roy Mustang was standing next to Olivier pushing her legs in an attempt to topple her. Riza Hawkeye cheering him on all the while. Ed assumed everyone else was in the adjacent living room or upstairs in their own rooms. Maria broke off to go see what Denny was doing. Ed figured he and Winry should at least try to figure out what Olivier was bitching about before going up to their room and trying to get some of their own homework done.

            “And Another thing!” Olivier started on another tangent before she was interrupted by Roy who was still attempting to push her off.

            “Oh My God. Livy no one gives a shit if you feel like you don’t have enough control.” Roy lisped giving her one more push. She toppled off the table with a loud thud. Ed looked up from Olivier’s body sprawled on the floor, now complaining about the floor, and up to the sneering Roy and the cheering Riza.

            _What was that about?_ Ed signed. Riza giggled loudly, Roy huffed.

            “Nothing new Ed just Livy being a bitch as always. What’s up with you?” Roy crossed his arms and sat down at the table. Maria figured this was her cue to add her own input to the situation.

            “Ed got pelted with rocks on the way home from school.” She exclaimed, giving a big toothy grin. Ed blushed, shooting her a scathing glare. She put her hands up in surrender.

            “What,” Roy said, mouth upturned into a snarl, eyes pinched in concentration and annoyance.

            “I’ll kick their asses no one hurts our boy.” Said Livy from the floor. Ed made a waving motion.

            _It’s not a big deal really, I promise._  

            “Is that why you have a bandage on?” Riza asked floating from her spot next to Roy to move next to Ed and prod the bandage on his head. “You fixed him up nice Winny. I got cleaning to do but I should tell you. Caregiver is gone again and they locked the pantry on their way out. You two should check the chore chart as well. I think it’s your turn to do the laundry, Winny.” Riza floated past them and into the living room. Ed smiled at Roy and pulled up Livy. He grabbed their hands and pulled them into the very small kitchen odd the dining room. Roy got on his knees and cupped his hands together. He boosted Ed on the kitchen counter. Ed stood on the top and grabbed the bobby pins on top of the cabinets. He jumped back down into Livy’s waiting arms and clamored to the ground. Ed pulled on the lock on the pantry, seeing it wasn’t going to budge that way Ed put in the bobby pins and started turning.

            Livy and Roy cheered when the lock came loose. He handed it off to Roy who opened the junk drawer and threw it in the back. They used to hide the lock from Caregiver but they would either find it or just buy a new one. They gave up on that front and took to hiding bobby pins instead. Livy pulled down pots and pans. Roy pulled out the lighter and lit the stove. Smiling to himself. Ed handed him three potatoes.

            _Peel these will you?_

            “Can do.” He smiled and pulled the peeler and a stole. He sat in front of the trash can. Livy stood beside Ed. The three of them cooked until seven.

            Livy called the others with a loud wooden spoon against a pot. A large rush of kids none older than fifteen rushed into the dining room. Socks muffling the stomps of them landing harshly on the wooden floor only slightly. Ed pulled the large pot of stew off the fire and ladled it into the bowls. Roy and Livy taking trips to give everyone a bowl. 

            Dinner was a rush with all fifteen of them around a table, it always was. Always a bit of a frustrating endeavor, especially to get someone to pass you something. They got around to it sure but there was going to be a lot of poking and prodding till they did. The room assignments used to make Ed trip up. Caregiver had assigned them, it was still a little strange to not sleep in the same room as Al and Nina, his other two that made the three triplets, but Al was just across the hall in his room with Denny, Ling, and Riza and Nina was just down the hall with Kain, Sheskia, and Mei. Ed shared his room with Maria, Winry, and Roy. He was alright with the room set up. At first, he and Roy thought it was an insult. Both him and Ed being trans to be paired up with girls. Then it came out that Winry was also trans. Ed wondered to this day why Caregiver had placed them in this room together. He had long wondered about all the room setups. He supposed it wasn’t much his business though.

            The next morning went as most Saturdays did at Robins Nest. Breakfast, homework in the dining and living room, and then talking and hanging. Planning things that might happen in the future. It was a rare Saturday where Ed had no homework. When stumbled down the stairs everyone was already working. Sheskia pointed to the dining room.

            “Caregiver still isn’t back, but there is food on the table.” She said.

            _Who made it_? Ed asked her.

            “Jean did, it's still hot.” She forced a wobbly smile at him. “I really wish you had been awake earlier.”

            _Jean cooked? And the buildings still standing? Must be magic._  Ed snorted.

            “Hey, Ed. You don’t have any homework ether huh.” A loud voice said Ed, flinched at the hand falling suddenly and forcefully on his shoulder. “Where are you planning on doing anything?” Ed’s shoulders tensed and he blushed, oh he knew who it was. From the looks of his pseudo-siblings in the living room, they knew who it was as well.

            _Hey Ling, I was planning on going to the library._ Ed scowled and took deep breaths hoping he didn’t look too strange as he tried to gain control of his blushing face.

            “That’s great. I’ll come with you.”

            _Oh, you really don’t have to, like seriously._

            “Oh, I insist after all its rude to leave someone walking out on their own.”   Ling offered out his elbow. Ed pushed it away and stumbled back up the stairs.

            _Christ Ling let me get dressed first._

            “I can come with you to do that as well.” Ling chirped behind him, Ed could hear the damn smile in that boy’s voice. If he weren’t so cute, or funny, or charming, Ed would have one hundred percent hated him. But Ling was, unfortunately, all of those things, and so Ed liked him… a lot. Best to get dressed for the day and not think too hard about it.

            Everyone had cleared out of their room except for Roy, who was on the top bunk above Ed’s. He was reading a book on his stomach. Ed pulled out the dresser drawers under their bed, he pushed Roy’ awful Cargo pants out of the way to get to his skirts and shirts. Roy looked down at him.

            “You goin’ on a date or somethin’. Ling ask you out?” Roy’s lisp was heavy and impaired almost all of his words. But after knowing him for so long Ed had figured ways to decode him.

            _No. But he and I are going to the library._

            “Chu yeah sure.” He looked back at his book, “It’s totally a date.” Ed knew the turn away meant he wasn’t listening to Ed anymore. Ed glared up, hoping the heat might burn through a page in that damn book.

            Ed pulled out his favorite red skirt, the one velvet one with flower patterns Caregiver had given him for his fourteenth birthday. He applied all his makeup and did his hair and generally took his damn time till Ling was knocking at the door complaining that he wanted to go and Roy was snickering at him _. Roy can shut his damn mouth he’s dating Jean, neither of them would know goddamn flirting if it hit them in the head._ Ed thought while applying his bright red lipstick that he and Riza had matching shades in. He opened the door and was ready to totally face a day out at the library with his crush of a lifetime. 

   


	2. The Shadows

The library was ten minutes away on foot. It was known for the art exhibits put on their almost constantly.  Ed tried to keep pace with Ling’s much larger strides while trying to think of anything to talk about.

            “What were you actually going to the library to get?” Ling asked, shocking Ed out of his mini panic.

_Oh, there was this book they are holding for me. Its this book on chemistry it's not that important you probably wouldn’t care that much._ Ed was actually really excited about getting the book but he knew Ling didn’t care much about school or learning or anything like that.

            “Well if you care about it I’d be glad to listen to you talk about it.” Ling smiled down at him.

            _You would?_

            “Yeah, it’s you talking isn’t it,” Ling said Ed, blushed violently. Ed sighed fast, trying to rant while also trying not to embarrass himself. Ling kept looking over his shoulder but stayed attentive, nodding and asking questions now and then.  

            They were halfway to the downtown library when Ling grabbed his hand and bolted both of them into the alley closest to them. It was hard to sign when being pulled along.  

            _Ling, what the hell? The library is uhhhh the other way?_  Ed was pretty sure he was right. He had more or less remembered where the library was. Unless they had moved it. Ed was sure he would have heard that thought.

            “We are being followed look,” Ling said, keeping a steady pace that was starting to hurt the spot between his prosthetic and his thigh. Ed scrunched his nose; the ache was getting worse with each step. He groaned and looked over his shoulder.

 There was no one physically following them, but Ed had learned a very long time ago physical things meant nothing in the Caregivers world. The shadows on the ally walls covered the place wall to wall, gaining on Ed and Ling fast. Ling stopped looking back behind them at the gaining shadows and the tops of the buildings above them. He grabbed Ed picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder. Ed gave a disgruntled screech, making Ling flinch. It didn’t stop him from grabbing the edge of a window sill and bound upwards towards the building roofs.

            Ling jumped them between the close together roofs. It got harder to jump between when they got closer to the outskirts and the buildings were much farther apart. He jumped, down and sprinted to Robins Nest. Ed could see the shadow far away but still chasing them. They would have to lose their line of sight before they would stop. Ling kicked open the door putting Ed down on his feet. Ed straightened his glasses glad they hadn’t fallen off in the rush.

            “We need to get to the bunker,” Ling said, out of breath he slammed the door shut behind him. It would only buy them a few minutes but a few minutes is enough. The kids in the dining room pushed out of their chairs and didn’t bother to push them back under the table. The kids in the living room abandon their homework pulling themselves up the stairs, some not even bothering to go around and up the stairs, instead just grabbing the banister and pulling themselves halfway up the stairs.  Rushing up the stairs knocking on all the doors telling the others in their rooms to come on. They rushed to the end of the hall on the third floor. Somewhere they never went if the Caregiver was here and even when they where they only went in when absolutely necessary. Ed opened the door, leading the charge now. They all pushed into the small room. Filled with books and parchment and blueprints that none of them dared to touch. Roy pulled the book Secret Rooms down by its spine. Cliché as it is. A circular fixture on the opposite wall swung open slowly. The kids, all eager to get out of harm’s way, piled around the door and stared down into the dark void staircase. They couldn’t see what was at the bottom but they all knew. Ed took the first step into the void.

  Caregiver had explained to Ed a few times that choosing the most cliché options was worth the risk. People tend to overthink, so most of the time no one would actually try the most obvious option. Ed always thought that was sorta brilliant, he also had read about Uncle Monty doing that in an old book series called A Series of Unfortunate Events. It didn’t turn out that well for him.

  Caregiver had explained once, and only once, that they had chosen all the kids from the foster system carefully. They where all close in age, the youngest being Mei at twelve and the oldest being a kid who called himself Scar, at fifteen born January sixth. It was by some strange coincidence they were best friends. They also had all lost their parents on the same night. They never brought up how their families died. They all remembered their own stories clearly enough they didn’t need their friend baggage as well. Ed was five when he lost his mom and dad to a fire. He still missed them a lot.    

            His two other triplites where next to him, Nina and Alright by his side hold his hands. They missed mom and dad too, he knew they did.

            “Where were you, Brother?” Al asked leaning close. Ed shot him a look that he hoped conveyed dummy you two are holding both my hands I can’t sign anything. Nina leaned over to look at Al.

            “He can’t sign Al he’s holding my hand as well.” Nina leaned over to say to him. Behind them crowded all the others as the piled into the almost completely blank room at the bottom of the stare case in the room under the building.    

            The room at the bottom of the satires was cozy, with lots of pillows and blankets and small comforts. On one wall was one floor to ceiling picture of the Caregiver and all the kids. On the opposite was a whole wall covered in bookshelves. In the middle was a pedestal, one that normally had a glass cover and a note taped to it that sad only for use in emergencies. Now there was nothing but a note card. Roy took a tentative step toward the card. Picking it up and preparing to read it out loud.  

            _“Kids, I’m sorry to say our time together has come to an end.”_ Roy read off the start of the letter, there was an immediate uproar among the kids.

            “What?” Mei asked,

            “Oh no oh no oh no.” Mumbled Sheskia, who was doing her best to appear calm but failing on all levels. Roy held out a hand to calm his friends and siblings, to let him continue reading the note.

            _“You have all grown into truly marvelous people and I can’t wait to see what you accomplish. Unfortunately, from here on out it will have to be from afar. You must train and protect yourselves from now on.”_  There was a painful wheeze from one of the kids in the crowd, _“Children you have nothing to fear, you are stronger then you could ever believe. Please remove the portrait on the wall and continue on your path to glory.”_ Roy finished the letter, voice stumbling as he tried to hold back his own tears. A few in the crowd were also crying, Sheskia and Mei, as well as Winry and Denny. The triplites covered their mouths trying not to sob loudly. Ling stepped up to the painting and removed it from its place. Not bothering to put it anywhere he dropped it to the side. Behind the painting was a large door. Old and wooden like a cabin door. With a diamond window in the middle.   

            It was better than their chances against those things outside. Ling put his hand on the doorknob took a deep breath and opened it. Then they were outside. It was cloudy and I bit chilly. Everyone looked around a bit confused, a moment ago they had been underground. Ed stepped out of the bunker and outside. Looking back on where he had come from showing the same door and a wooden house on the edge of a cliff. There was a small rock bride from the end of the other side of the bridge leading to a yellow dirt path, that leads down a forest. In front of the bride was a large chest. All around them where large dead trees that reached up and touched the gray skies. His friends and siblings all took steps outside the room and onto the cliff side. Ed watched his step going down the curved stairs that lead to the small bridge and chest, there was slippery wet moss all over everything, as well as what Ed guessed was snow. Explaining the chill that he wasn’t used to. Ed opened the chest with all the rest of the kids not far behind him. There wasn’t much in there. A stack of books and sixteen small vials, all had tags on them that labeled the vials with large bold letters of Drink Me.

            “So, is everyone getting like an Alice and wonderland vibe from this? Where is the mad hatter?” Denny said. His mouth was screwed up and was shivering from the cold. 

            _Bitch, I’m the mad hatter now._

            “That’s valid.”

            Sheskia rubbed her cheeks and leaned down into the chest and pulled out the top book. She blew off the thick layer of dust sitting on top of it.

            “That’s not even half of it, this is really strange,” Sheskia said, squinting trying to get a better read of the book in front of her.

            “What?” Lan Fan was standing next to her twin brother Ling. She had been staring hard at the ground before this but choose now to look up and start asking questions. “What could possibly make this weirder?” Sheskia opened the book, turning to a page near the start. There was writing in runes and a large picture of the house on the cliff. All their names listed under the house.

            “I think we have bigger problems then Caregiver leaving us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those wondering the reference, I used for the house was this drawing I found on google http://fantasy-settings.tumblr.com/   
> It's by VityaR83 on DeviantArt.


	3. Clean Up

“You think this is all some big prophecy? That’s crazy, Shes.” Roy passed back and forth on the grass pulling at his hair, trying to make sense of the things happening around him.

“Is it? Is it crazy I want you to look at where we are and I want you to think about all the unexplainable things that happened when Caregiver was there? How is this any less possible?” Maria said, crossing her arms, snarling defensively.

“We’re all a little high-strung right now. We should…” Jean started, raising his arms, trying to calm everyone.

“I think we should drink the vials,” Kain said, also leaning over looking at the tiny jars. They were filled with dark liquid, just enough for one swallow. “Caregiver told us to come down here, and if they’re labeled drink me by Caregiver then I’ll do it. I trust them.”

“What? Kain, come on man.” Roy reached out his arms.

“It’s a better bet then what’s outside,” Nina said. She had her hands on her hips. She was standing next to her brothers, and despite all being the same age Nina stood a good five inches above Al and almost a foot above Ed. Ed rolled his eyes at everyone, nobody bothering to notice. “Face it, Roy, out there are monsters and if these vials help us it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

_Maybe we should take a vote_ Ed sighed, people starting to sling insults and jabs back and forth. Ed glared at the two groups. He didn’t have time for this. He walked over to the chest since nobody was bothering to pay attention to him. He pulled out one of the vials, turning over the tag to see if there was anything else on it. Nope, just the drink me.

“Hey, Ed, what the hell do you think you're doing?” Roy screeched. Ed raised his middle finger and chugged the liquid in the vial. “Ed! Holy shit.” Most all the kids crowded around Ed to see what would happen to him. He felt fine at first. Then his breath felt hot and his skin felt hot and his brain hurt and his vision was going red and everything was so Hot. He fell to his knees and started coughing violently. He heard his siblings and friends screaming running to get further away from him. And then he was fine, he was fine again. His mind was racing and he was sore all over, but he was fine. He looked up at everyone, staring both in horror and awe at him.

_What?_ He signed. He had lost his glasses when he fell, and was looking for them now in the grass. His hand fell on a melted lump of red plastic. _Are those my glasses?_ Nina nodded.

“I… here.” She reached out her hand, helping Ed stand again.

_Is my leg alright?_ He leaned against his sister.

“Uh, yeah, it looks fine. Probably. We should get Winry to look at it later though.” Nina moved him so he could also lean against Al. Ed scared the blurry faces of his friends, trying to get a gage on how they were feeling now. He focused on Livy’s face, which was tight with upset.

“That was so DUMB.” She screamed, hands balling into fists. “Don’t you ever do that again.” She pounded her fists against his arm, keeping it just light enough to not actually hurt. “You could have died, idiot.”

_I’m not entirely sure what happened—can someone please explain to me?_ Ed was sighing at a rapid rate trying to keep up with the chatter around him.

“Uh Ed you like, spit up lava I think. Magma? Does it matter? Hot molten rock.” Riza gripped his arm while basically screaming this in his ear.

_         Well, I feel fine now. I actually feel pretty good.  _ Ed smiled trying to make them all feel just a bit better. It wasn’t a lie, either; Ed actually felt pretty good. His mind hadn’t stopped freaking out but, as a whole, he felt pretty refreshed. Like an energy drink maybe. Not that he would know he had never actually drunk an energy drink.

       Nina moved Ed to lean on Livy. She picked up a vial and handed it to Al.

      “What the Fuck do you two think you're doing?” Roy stepped forward. He wasn’t asking, he knew.

      “Sibling solidarity, dude,” Al said. Nina and Al toasted quickly and took theirs like shots. It happened reasonably fast, Al’s eyes flashed a deep green, veins turning the same color. Plants wrapped around his legs and pulled him to his knees, and then he was fine, staring dazed at the ground. Nina happened simultaneously, eyes becoming a single color of blue, her mouth opening and water spilling out on to the ground. She stayed upright but leaned on Ed after it was over. Roy crossed his arms.

     “You guys are such assholes! I literally just said don’t fucking drink it. It might kill you, and what do you do? Fucking drink it!” Roy grabbed his hair and pulled. Turning his head to the sky and screaming.  

      “Dude, chill. We’re fine, I promise.” Al waved his hands down. “Promise I feel completely fine.”

      “Are you two sure?” Kain asked, taking a step forward. “What happened to the three of you was like, super weird. You know, that right?” Nina stood up straight and cracked her neck.

      “Yeah, we’re fine. No idea what that was, but we are fine.”

      “The shadows have probably left Robins Nest by now. We should go back up,” Mei said, looking back up at the house. “Maybe we can start looking for information in the house.” She shrugged, frowning deeply.

      The kids turned back and went into the bunker, closing the door and putting the painting back in front of it. When they looked back at the office, things looked the same. The dining room and living room had things blown everywhere and moved and generally just trashed. Not to mention all of their homework was more or less destroyed.

      They closed the front door and threw away the shreds of paper, straightening the chairs. They collapsed into the couches and chairs in the living room, exhausted with the work and stress of the day. Ed laid down his head in his triplet’s laps.

      “Do you all remember how your parents died?” Lan Fan said. She was leaning against her twin, sitting cross-legged on the couch opposite Ed, Al, and Nina.  Livy turned her head lazily from her spot the floor.

      “I remember I just try not to think about it.” She said. She rubbed her head. “Can we talk about this tomorrow? My head hurts.”

    “Yeah, sleep pile?” Jean asked. Not really waiting for an answer before throwing some blankets and pillows into the middle of the room.

_     Sounds nice  _ Ed smiled, Roy nodded across the room.

    “I’ll go up to our room to get our own pillows, Y'all stay here.”  Roy went up the stairs, presumably to get soft things from their beds.

    “Yeah, I’ll go too.” Denny stood up, brushing off his pants and following close behind Roy. The rest sat in a quiet contemplative silence while waiting for their pseudo-siblings to bring back down blankets. They came back down soon after, with blankets stacked so high you couldn’t see the tops of their heads. They dropped the blankets and pillows on top of an already sleeping Jean in the middle of the room, laughing when he shot up ramrod straight with shock. Jean sputtered with embarrassment. The kids laid down in the middle of the room, saying soft goodnights to each other, barely letting you know who has said what. One by one the kids fell asleep, the whole room living with a pleasant hum.

       Ed woke up first. Legs thrown over Winry, head on Nina’s stomach, arms over Roy and Livy both on opposite sides. Ed groaned and turned until he was standing. His head was pounding like nothing else. He went to the kitchen to see if he could find something to make breakfast with. He wondered how they would get more food. If the Caregiver had left money. Worries threatened to drown rational thought in Ed’s brain, like the thundering drums on the horizon of war. He flicked his nails, trying to fight the urge to chew them. He decided he should take his meds before cooking.

     In the bathroom of the second floor was a large cabinet filled with pill bottles, all with different names across the sides. Every kid had at least one. Ed took his Prozac, forty grams. He hadn’t taken any for the last week. He wasn’t supposed to do that, especially not on a dosage this high, but no one was going to force him to take them, and he was often pretty scatterbrained. His thoughts didn’t calm down per say. More like it was harder to make them move, harder to overthink things. Roy had once said Ed’s mind was going a thousand miles a minute when Ed took breaks from his medication.  It worried everyone when he started having panic attacks, crying for no reason, scared of even going to school. He was trying to get better, really, he was. It was just hard, and sometimes it felt like there was nobody in the world who could ever understand what the thoughts rushing around like the world's worst highway in his brain felt like.

     Ed went back to the kitchen. He pulled out eggs and tomatoes and cheese. He decided he was gonna make omelets for everyone. Everyone can start their day right. He wouldn’t put cheese in his or Nina’s though, lactose intolerance and all that. Al somehow escaped that genetic fuck up.  Slowly the other kids started filtering into the kitchen, expressing gratitude to Ed for cooking—even Scar, who gave Ed a very small smile and a soft thank you. Ed nodded and smiled back. He made his last and joined his family last. Everyone was sitting at the table, all talking loudly.

     “I think its complete bullshit,” Denny said as Ed sat down. “They couldn’t wait for us to have all our homework done or nothin’—they just had to come in and fuck up all our hard work. What are we supposed to tell our teachers? We were robbed?”

     Riza groaned. “Don’t even start with me, I was supposed to be spending the day practicing guitar, and look what happened. All my plans trashed.” Riza swung her fork as she talked, talking while chewing.

     “Oh my god, I was supposed to do a project and two essays,” Sheskia said, rubbing her eyes. “Man, I hope someone from my class could send me a copy of the rubrics.” 

     “Looks like we are spending today doing work as well,” Lan Fan crossed her arms.

     “Damn, and I was so hoping we could start looking into things,” Roy stuck his tongue out, upset but understanding. School came first, after all.

     “I think this is for the best. After all, we’ll have all week to come up with a plan and start next Saturday,” Nina said, happily eating her own food. “We must learn to see the Brightside of things. And anyway, it gives us something to look forward too.”

     “Ah, Nina. Always a positive force, a shining light.” Livy sighed dramatically. “Better start that homework. I suppose it sucks that we can’t do the math homework that was shredded.” She pushed out her chair, washed her dish quickly and walked back to the living room. The other kids followed soon afterward spending their day working on projects and homework in their large soft things pile in the middle of the room.

     The day went by quickly and soon enough it was night, with all of them taking showers brushing their teeth, putting on their pajamas, and getting ready for school.

     “Hey, are we all sleeping in the soft thing pile again?” Al asked from where he was next to the sink, brushing his teeth.

     “I figured,” Sheskia said while walking past with bundle of clothes in her arms.

     Ed took the bus to school. All the kids went to the same school, an art school on the other side of town. Twenty minutes to get there and then like an hour to get back. Ed was a writer, and something he often thought about the other writers was that they were the definition of pretentious. It must be hot to wear that coat of pretention in this heat, Ed thought to himself. The other kids were quiet and he felt bad for the high schoolers who got one before the middle schoolers got off. A real tragedy.

     Ed’s first period was English, and it was then that he noticed something was wrong. His stomach ached something awful, and he felt cold—like, really, really cold. He raised his hand.

     “Yes, Ed?” The teacher sighed, stopping her lecture.

_      Can I please go to the restroom?  _ Ed signed to the teacher, her eyebrows creased in irritation.

     “You know I don’t understand that hand waving Edward. Please use your words.” The class snickered. Ed screwed his mouth into a sneer and pulled out a notepad.

_      I’m mute I can’t speak.  _ Ed scribbled on the paper.

     “Hmm, and yet you can sing. How strange.” The teacher tapped her chin like she didn’t believe him.

_      The parts of the brain used for speaking and the parts of the brain used for singing are different, you should know this, you’re a teacher. Can I please go to the restroom now?  _ Ed showed the teacher and she waved him off.

     “Sure, Edward. Better to have you out of my class than in it.” The teacher went back to her class and Ed stormed out of the room, signing bullshit the entirety of his way out. His anger and momentarily made him forget how god awful he felt. Now that the rage had subdued slightly he felt like he was going to vomit. He rushed into the bathroom holding himself above the sink. He really didn’t want to vomit, and he didn’t have anyone to pick him up. What was he going to do?

     His hands clenched in the cold concrete of the sink.  He focused his eyes back in on his hands. Well, what he was pretty sure were his hands. Instead, his skin seemed a washed out purple of his normal skin color, his nails long and pointed claws leaving marks in the sink. He looked up into the mirror.

     His eyes were a sold gold color, and out of his head sprouted long, curved horns.

     He backed up from the mirror, not breaking eye contact. Before he his back hit the wall, something stopped him. He broke eye contact with the mirror to see what had stopped him. There was a tail the same color of the purple washed out skin that was now his. He screamed.

     It seemed to be louder then he meant it to be because all the mirrors broke, the skins faucets flew off and the doors on the stalls shook fiercely. Immediately after, his neck felt hot, and bubbling hot red lava pushed its way out of his mouth and down his chin, not burning him but leaving scorch marks on the floor. He could hear footsteps outside and people talking. He couldn’t let anyone see him like this. He looked up to the window above all the stalls. He dug his claws into the side of the building and crawled up until he could break open the glass and escape the school.

     He heard the door open and several surprised exclamations while he scaled down the outside of the building.                   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW people who can't speak because of brain issues actually can sin. So that's your fact of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

     Ed scaled to the bottom of the building and sprinted to the nearest group of bushes. There weren’t many people out on the street while Ed dashed. He sat hoping that it was all just a dream and that he didn’t actually have anything wrong with him. He realized he should text his siblings and let them know where he was.

**That Golden Boi:** Y’all I am in a situation.

**Kat Man** **:** What did you do?

**That Golden Boi:** Why do you assume I did something?

**Kat Man:** You're texting us from class in the middle of the day, you probably did some shit.

**If You Met My Brothers You’d Understand** **:** Lol.

**That Golden Boi:** Shut up Al.

**If You Met My Brothers You'd UNderstand:** No let him finish.

**That Golden Boi:** Okay no guys this is like serious.

**If You Met My Brothers You’d Understand:** Its kinda always a little serious with you

**If You Met My Brothers You’d Understand:** serious

**Kat Man:** Just tell us.

**That Golden Boi:** I think I'm hallucinating and I kinda scaled the building and I’m outside of the building now and idk what to do now.

**Kat Man:** What

**If You Met My Brothers You’d Understand:** Christ Ed you should have lead with that.

**That Golden Boi:** Idk how to socialize like a normal person idk what im douing just send help

**That Golden Boi:** Doing.

**Kat Man:** Alright I'm coming to get you stay put.

     Ed didn’t have any other places to go. He sat in the bushes waiting for his brother to show up and take him back to class or back to Robins Nest. Whatever the counselor decided he guessed. He heard Al’s footsteps outside his bush. He shot his hand out of the foliage, Al screeched at the appendage bursting from the bush.

_It’s me._ Ed signed with his stuck-out hand.

    “Ed, what do you think you were hallucinating about.” Al’s voice was strained and quiet. Ed rolled out of the bush and stood next to his brother.

_That I was this monster looking thing._ Ed told him, Al’s eyes were blown wide, mouth open in horror and fascination. He reached out and touched the top of Ed’s head.   
   “I don’t think you where hallucinating.” Al looked around the empty streets, “we have to get you home.” Al pulled Ed’s hood over his face and pushed him along the street in the direction of Robins Nest. “Keep your head down.”

     They made it back home faster then normal, no traffic stops and no people made for easy travel. They bust themselves to Eds shared room, Al sitting him on the bed. He started pacing.

     “I’ll be honest Ed I don’t really know what to do about this situation.”

_Do we really have to do anything?_ Ed sighed to his brother, who screwed his face up.

     “Ed you look like a goddamn DND character, we have to do something.” Al sat next to him and put his head in his hands, letting out a large sigh.  Ed opened his mouth to huff loudly in his brother’s direction but found himself spitting up lava instead of air. Al jumped back off the bed rolling on the floor he tried to get away from the molten rock that was flowing out from between Ed’s lips.

     Ed snapped his mouth shut in an attempt to keep it from getting everywhere. The door burst open, on the other side was Nina, who now looked similar to Ed, skin a blazing deep blue with the same curling horns and muscular tail curling up behind her.

     “I think we might have an issue.” She said every time she opened her mouth splashes of seawater fell out. “Biggest not being that I look like this, instead it more revolves around the fact salt water won’t stop coming out of my mouth.”

     “Yeah I don’t know what’s going on with you three but I have a feeling it has something to do with the potions you drank yesterday.” Roy followed after Nina, hands shoved into his pockets he scowled at them. “We told you not to do it.”

_I would say sorry but I’m not._ Ed smiled a little at his sister. There was banging from the hallways like people kept ramming themselves into the plaster. It was Lan Fan who stopped outside their door, out of breath sweating her eyes spinning in panic.

     “Big problem, were under attack again.”

**Author's Note:**

> OHHHH my god guuuuuuuuuysss. I cant promise I'm going to work on this a lot but I've been thinking about some of these scenes for forever. Expect more mystery and adventure and intrigue next chapter.  
> If any of y'all wanna bug me about this my Tumblr is DrakonLady. Feel free to dm there!


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